By Jeremy Gordon
on July 23, 2015 at 11:35 a.m. EDT

He'll serve as the executive music producer on A&E's forthcoming "Roots" mini-series, a remake of the landmark 1977 show based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel about the life of an African man who's sold into slavery, as Variety points out. The eight-hour series is set to air next year.

By Jazz Monroe
on July 23, 2015 at 8:56 a.m. EDT

This May, Swansreissued their 1983 album Filth in a deluxe 3xCD set. Last night, Michael Gira revealed on Facebook (via Fact) that they'll follow it up this year with a live album called The Gate. According to Gira, it's a fundraiser for a new album, which they'll begin recording in September. He also described it as "the final Swans album (and subsequent tour) for this version / iteration of Swans. Not really sure what the next step will be after that, but that's perhaps a good thing..."

By Jazz Monroe
on July 23, 2015 at 7:58 a.m. EDT

Earlier this year, James Franco wrote "Shades of Cool", a poetic tribute to Lana Del Rey, for V Magazine. Now, he's followed it up with a 100-page book,Flip-Side: Real And Imaginary Conversations With Lana Del Rey, Stereogum reports. Check out the cover below, featuring photos of Franco, Del Rey, her sister Chuck Grant, and MoMA director Klaus Biesenbach at New York’s Fort Tilden beach in July 2014. The book, which is co-authored by David Shields, is due on March 15 next year.

By Evan Minsker
on July 23, 2015 at 12:55 a.m. EDT

Gazing With Tranquility: A Tribute to Donovan is a forthcoming benefit compilation where 15 artists will pay homage to the singer/songwriter/Sunshine Superman. It's out October 16 via Rock the Cause. It features contributions from the Flaming Lips, Sharon Van Etten, the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser, Lissie, and others. Find the tracklist below.

By Evan Minsker
on July 23, 2015 at 12:35 a.m. EDT

Wilco just surprise-released their new album Star Wars for free. In an email to everyone who downloaded the album, they acknowledged that not every band or label are in the financial position to release a free album. "Much of the 'music business' relies on physical sales to keep the lights on and the mics up," they wrote. To help support some of their favorite artists, they made a list of their 17 favorite recent albums and encouraged their fans to go out and buy them.

By Evan Minsker
on July 22, 2015 at 11:42 p.m. EDT

On tonight's episode of Benji B's BBC Radio 1 show, Four Tet sat in for the host and invited two friends: Caribou and Floating Points. The mix included an unreleased, untitled Caribou track, Anthony Naples' remix of Arthur Russell's "Keeping Up", a Joy Orbison track called "A213", and more. Listen here. (The Naples and Caribou tracks start around the 2:17:00 mark.) Correction 7/23: Caribou tweeted this morning that the untitled track is by Floating Points, not Caribou.